... and completely hated it? DS3 is 12 months old, and nurses on demand, and I'm 27-29 weeks pregnant (depending on what due date you go by). He's the first baby I've actually breastfed (EP'ed for my other two), and we've had a wonderful breastfeeding relationship.

But for the past 3 months or so, I've absolutely hated nursing him. Every time he nurses, I feel like I want to jump out of my skin... it's hard to explain. But I literally get angry and irritable, and just want him OFF me. It doesn't hurt or anything, but I just feel annoyed, and like I have ants crawling all over me.

I don't want to wean him. We've overcome a lot to have a successful breastfeeding relationship (tongue tie and GERD, to name our biggest issues), and my goal has always been to let him self-wean. I did finally night-wean a few weeks ago... the combo of sleep deprivation and these feelings were driving me over the edge.

So, I guess I'm just looking for some "been there, done that, got through that" stories? Some commiseration, maybe .

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__________________Trying-to-stay-sane mama to four boys (5/07, 10/09, 7/11, and 11/12)

Yes and I even got that way at about 8 months of BFing regaurdless of being pregnant or not with each baby. Not sure why. I worked through it with each one but both weaned right after turning one on their own.

I've bf'd through two pregnancies now, and IME the heebie jeebie feeling comes and goes. FX it will go away for you! I think it must be a hormone thing. :-/ I was determined to make it through my whole pregnancy, and even then I seriously considered weaning #2 before #3 was born. I had the heebie jeebies and crazy nipple pain while nursing him, and I'd decide to wean him, then wait a week and things would become bearable again. Then it would repeat. As soon as I gave birth everything went right back to normal, and he's still nursing at 20 months, and I'm SO glad I stuck it out! You can do it, mama! Maybe you'd feel better about cutting back on the nursing sessions till your LO gets here and then adding more in? It is really nice to have a toddler to help nurse down the engorgement when your milk comes in.

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Wife to the love of my life, and Mama to four precious little ones and a baby coming in October!

Yes and I even got that way at about 8 months of BFing regaurdless of being pregnant or not with each baby. Not sure why. I worked through it with each one but both weaned right after turning one on their own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovebabies

I've bf'd through two pregnancies now, and IME the heebie jeebie feeling comes and goes. FX it will go away for you! I think it must be a hormone thing. :-/ I was determined to make it through my whole pregnancy, and even then I seriously considered weaning #2 before #3 was born. I had the heebie jeebies and crazy nipple pain while nursing him, and I'd decide to wean him, then wait a week and things would become bearable again. Then it would repeat. As soon as I gave birth everything went right back to normal, and he's still nursing at 20 months, and I'm SO glad I stuck it out! You can do it, mama! Maybe you'd feel better about cutting back on the nursing sessions till your LO gets here and then adding more in? It is really nice to have a toddler to help nurse down the engorgement when your milk comes in.

Thanks mamas! It's nice to know I'm not alone in these feelings. I've noticed the agitation gets worse when he nurses first thing in the morning, before naps, and before bed... mainly because I have nothing to distract me, and he tends to nurse longer than usual. During the day, he does "drive-by" nursing (short, frequent sessions that last less than 5 minutes), but he can often nurse for 30-45 minutes in those three nursing sessions.

__________________Trying-to-stay-sane mama to four boys (5/07, 10/09, 7/11, and 11/12)

Yes I am very familiar with that crawling out of your skin feeling. I agree with the mama who says that it comes and goes. Every time I seriously considered weaning YDD, the feeling would ease off. Like you, I would like to let her self wean. She just turned 2 and YDS is 2 months old and both are happily nursing. I limit YDD to naps, bedtime, and first thing in the morning, though, because she would happily nurse all day long. I find tandem nursing bearable only in small doses. It's been really helpful to have a nursing toddler to help with engorgement and clogged ducts!

There were times when I wanted to scream and run out of the room when I was pregnant with my DS. Sometimes I did unlatch her and get up and we did something else. It was usually when DD was nursing for.e.ver before naptime--the other nursings were just fine because they were shorter, I think.

But for me, the dread of weaning her was greater than the discomfort of that one nursing session, so we persevered, and it's been great!

I know what you mean!!! I'm 13 w and nursing my 11 month old. Not only does it hurt, but yes, feel so irritable snd jumpy too. I wonder if it's me subconsciously wanting my body to myself....seriously no one TOUCHING me constantly for a little while before next baby comes? Yet sometimes I can't wait to nurse him again. Ahhhhh....pregnancy hormones....

One thing I do with my older nursing child is give them a "countdown to latch off" if you want to call it that. So if the crawly feeling gets too crazy I can say, "ok, I'm going to count to 5 and then we are all done! 1-2-3-4-5, yay!" and unlatch them. That way they have a little bit of a warning so they're not completely taken off guard, and it makes the pull-off not quite as hard. My 20 month-old often chimes in, "six, seffen, eight..."

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Wife to the love of my life, and Mama to four precious little ones and a baby coming in October!

I had the same feeling but weaned around 22 months; the feeling really picked up around 30 weeks pregnant for me. I knew that I didn't want to tandem nurse anyway, so I just went as long as I could take it.